#263 What motivates us and sustains motivation in our pursuits?
Research tells us that by end of January the hope, optimism and enthusiasm that magically filled up people’s hearts starts to fade and we are back to our same old, same old lives.
Our motivation has waned. Life in the form of appointments, events, medical emergencies, festivals, over-commitments, mindless social media scrolling take over and the motivation we had in the earlier part of the year just runs out of horsepower.
If you feel like this, you are not alone. All of us struggle with sustaining our motivation levels in eating healthy, exercising regularly, meditating daily, contacting friends, learning a skill, doing japa or regularly attending Vedanta class.
We draw motivation from Bhagavad Gita and modern psychology, explore the interplay between internal and external factors of motivation and reflect on what sustains our motivation. We can apply insights into how to sustain motivation in our pursuits.
Bhagavan Krishna shares that when a sattvika person, a person who has a predominance of sattva, does karma, then the sattvika karta is described.
The sattvika karta is the one –
Who is free from attachment,
who has no egotism,
who is endowed with resolve and enthusiasm and
who is unperturbed in success and failure.
Besides the 3 or 4 things that are mentioned, what I want to focus on today is motivation which is a combination of resolve and enthusiasm.
What motivates us? External factors or internal factors? Where does our resolve and enthusiasm come from? How can our motivation for chosen pursuits last?
Motivation is the force that initiates, sustains, and guides human behavior.
Motivation provides the incentive or reason for us to engage in specific activities, make decisions, and persevere in the face of challenges.
Motivation, the driving force behind our behavior, can be classified into two main categories: internal and external factors.
All of us want to feel that we matter and our lives matter.
Depending on early growth influences and how we have allowed ourselves to grow, our behaviour is shaped by a combination of internal and external motivation.
External or Extrinsic motivation refers to the drive to perform a behavior or achieve a goal based on external rewards or consequences. Some of these are :
Tangible Rewards:
External motivators, such as money, gifts, reward points, can be powerful motivators. These tangible rewards are often associated with success.
For example, If you get good grades we will buy you the games you want.
If you buy during this time of the year, you will get heavy discounts.
If you network at your work place, people will give you more work opportunities.
2. Social Approval and Recognition:
Recognition from peers and society for what we can can boost self-esteem and foster a sense of belonging.
M says – I want to be in a profession where my family can feel proud of me. No one else has an M.S in Engineering from the US.
R says on social media – If people approve, I must be worthy.
The brands we use, the clothes we bear, the car we buy, the vacations we take, the causes we support on social media, have a strong element of signalling our status in society and how we want to be perceived.
Posting on social media for likes, views and shares from people we don’t even know is an external motivator that we seek.
Avoidance of Punishment:
Fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of not meeting specific expectations can drive us to perform certain actions.
The college student does not want to fail,and hence somehow studies for the exam.
Some of us meet deadlines or timelines because we do not want to be insulted in front of everyone.
We drive according to traffic rules because we do not want to meet with or cause an accident. Safety motivates us and rightly so.
4. External Expectations and Societal Norms:
Every society and culture often set expectations and norms for behavior and success.
Individuals may be motivated by external pressures to conform to these expectations, e.g. marrying at a particular age, buying a house, organising a destination wedding etc
In urban India, for women marrying between 22 – 27 years and for men marrying between 25-30 is considered desirable by society. Both men and women of this age are often asked a uniquely Indian phrase about marriage, ‘So when are you going to settle down?’
So much so that this question I have heard being asked to a sannyasi too – When are you going to settle down? Pointing to having a place of stay and regular classes and courses.
A recently married person will face the pressure of having a child in two years time with the question – So, when are you going to give us the good news?
Acquiring one’s own house, having a stable career, educational achievements – Engineering followed by management are other societal benchmarks.
Our many purchases of clothes for weddings which will be worn once or only a few times to appear exclusive and rich enough to afford it, is set by an accepted society norm.
Smoking, Drinking and doing drugs are often indulged in due to the social pressure to look cool or to network.
5. Economic needs and Instrumentality:
Certain activities are looked upon as a means to an end.
People work to earn money for necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare. The job becomes a means to the salary. The marriage becomes a means to having a child.
6. Competitive Nature:
External motivators such as winning a competition, surpassing others in grades, or achieving a higher status in a competitive environment can drive performance.
All of us have started out in life being motivated by external factors such as tangible rewards, avoidance of punishment, social approval, External Expectations and Societal Norms, Economic needs and Instrumentality and a Competitive Nature
While extrinsic motivation plays a crucial role in various aspects of life, it’s important to note its limitation, mainly, the effects of external factors are temporary and one is motivated only in the presence of these external motivators.
If there was no competitor, would one still be driven to excellence?
If there was no social pressure to marry would one still have married?
If one has earned more than enough for one’s family, is there still a motivation to work professionally?
Would people go to great lengths to pose for selfies at the edge of cliffs if they could not share it with anyone?
On the other hand, intrinsic or internal motivation refers to the drive to engage in a behavior or pursue a goal for the inherent satisfaction, joy or personal interest in the activity itself. Some of the factors are –
Freedom of choice: When people feel that they have the freedom to make choices and decisions, they are more likely to be intrinsically motivated.
Viktor Frankl, one of the Holocaust survivors who spent three years in a concentration camp in the 1940s, in which a few of his family members died, said beautifully – ‘Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.’
His quote just goes us to show that despite one’s restrictive, external circumstances, one can allow the mind to soar wherever it wants to go.
Netflix has a work culture of ensuring much freedom to its employees to make creative decisions that has resulted in some innovative shows and many untold stories.
2. Fun, Enjoyment and Variety:
Universally, we have a need for play, light heartedness and laughter. Activities that are inherently fun like board games, light hearted conversations, watching stand up comedy, participating in adventure sport, which lead to a high, motivate some people. It is difficult for them to stick to one job for too long or even one romantic relationship for too long once the excitement diminishes.
Conversely, people motivated by fun, enjoyment and variety will bring that into their conversations and interactions.
Growth and Mastery : The satisfaction derived from an expansion of capacity, overcoming challenges and reaching milestones is a strong internal motivator.
When you value a particular discipline, say Sanskrit, chanting or even mastery over expression of your emotions, you want to improve your skills, abilities, and knowledge in it.
It does not matter if you are getting any external tangible reward for it or any social recognition for it.
If you are working in the corporate sector, you enjoy the money and perks which are external factors. But that’s not all. You are motivated by opportunities to grow, build skills in a particular domain or lead a team.
One does not work on self-mastery for a certificate or to compete with someone else or for someone else ‘s praise.
If one values the non-dual vision of Vedanta, then there will be a related value for cultivation of self-mastery too.
Purpose and Meaning: When we find purpose in our actions, driven by personal values or a connection to a larger cause, we experience a deeper and more fulfilling motivation.
Ask the many people who have started and joined movements, non-profits or even profit companies. The money they get, if they get is secondary or even tertiary. They are driven by the cause be it composting of kitchen waste, unstructured play time for all children, dignity for senior citizens, Ayurveda based cooking etc.
Even people who have start-ups, are motivated by the idea of a service or a product that will improve the quality of people’s lives and hence work 16-18 hour days.
External motivators such as social recognition or short term gain motivate them much less than the internal motivator of purpose and meaning.
If moksha is the ultimate pursuit of your life, then other pursuits of Dharma, Artha and Kama are looked upon as ways for freeing oneself from raga-dveshas and gaining a mastery of mind.
Clarity of purpose and meaning fuels you and your life.
Giving and contribution – In addition to many people who devote their lives to a cause, there are many others who do seva, voluntary service without any expectation of rewards, gratitude and even acknowledgement.
They do so because they enjoy giving of their money, time, resources to make the world around them better. At other times, they contribute due to their gratitude to the other person and wanting to make the other person’s life better. Vedanta students do seva in different ways to their guru because of their care and respect and wanting to contribute to the tradition.
6. Love, Connectedness and commitment to duty: Every day, millions of parents across cultures cook, clean, wash, teach and provide for their children. The child smiling its toothless smile, the child tentatively riding the bicycle, the child matching beats with you on the table. What will the parents not do, for such priceless moments? Parents feel so deeply connected to the children that many sacrifice comforts so that they can give their children the best.
Any loving relationship is motivated by one’s commitment to the happiness, growth and well being of the other person. People can even give up their lives.
The many freedom fighters of India were motivated by freedom for the country. They did not know if they would live long enough to see the country free in their lifetime. And yet they made untold sacrifices.
We have seen that some key internal factors of motivation were –
Freedom of choice,
Fun, Enjoyment and Variety,
Growth and Mastery,
Purpose and Meaning,
Giving and Contribution,
Love, Connectedness and commitment,
Really speaking, the internal factors of motivation are a subset of samanya dharma, universal values that are deeply personal.
When our actions align with our personal values and beliefs, our internal or intrinsic motivation is heightened.
Even when the external environment is discouraging or unsupportive, one can find the strength and resilience within to persist.
There is a motivation to align with Dharma and do the right thing. This sustains us.
Doing the right thing becomes its own sweet reward.
While both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations both shape our behavior, internal or intrinsic motivation is more sustainable and enduring.
Once we have more clarity on the combination of internal and external factors that motivate us, we have found the magic lever.
We don’t have to wait to watch a motivational speaker to feel motivated.
You know what works for you.
Hence it is so easy to stay motivated and do what is necessary to fulfil our life priorities.
When we are motivated by Dharma, we protect it by living it.
For example, we do not restrict Dharma of giving and contribution only to family members which is actually our duty. We extend it to others and hence build an environment of giving at our work place or on our birthdays or on regular giving to projects.
Our giving and contribution also takes the form of offering external rewards of praise and recognition.
The external motivation of societal norms of traffic or social interaction or no smoking in public is based on safety and harmonious living, which also adds to the internal motivation of harmony and connectedness in our relationships.
The internal motivation of connectedness and commitment to duty makes one seek a job to provide for the family, which is a seeming external motivation. It is really feeding an internal drive.
The external environment of wide-spread corruption induces others to also follow through. And then someone comes along willing to sacrifice the short term gain for a long term possibility of honest practices. Or the short term gain is so important that one keeps aside the value for honesty in this particular instance. Either way, it is a play of external and internal motivation.
The internal motivation for growth and mastery leads to organisations instituting awards for excellence in sports, performances, music, dance etc, which is a seeming external motivation.
As we navigate the complexities of motivation, it becomes evident that the interplay between internal and external factors is dynamic.
We see how motivation at the internal level contributes to external motivation for society and external motivating factors may strengthen internal motivation.
By aligning our actions with Dharma, we can protect and sustain motivation, fostering a life filled with purpose, meaning, and enduring joy.
Dharma is protected when we protect it by living it such that our spaces become dharmika.
When our spaces are dharmika, the Dharmi, the person who upholds dharma is protected and further motivated to uphold Dharma.
Dharmo rakshati rakshitah.
